Tswana

Tswana is a group of Bantu people living in Southern Africa. Batswana are mostly found in Botswana, South Africa, and, to some smaller extent, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The origin of this group of people is not clearly known, although some scholars suppose that they came from the Great East Africa Lakes before they spread to southern Africa. Nevertheless, history documents that by AD 1600 they had already settled in their present settlements. In their settlement, the Tswana had their own peculiar way of doing things that included political, social, and religious organizations. These ways were not easily perceivable to strangers of Batswana culture. So this fact disqualifies the colonial mentality that the Tswanas had no culture, especially in religion.

The Tswana deity is called Modimo, which literally means the Great High God (Spirit). Modimo can be neither personified nor gendered. It is something that cannot be accommodated in a building or in space. Nevertheless, Modimo has the several attributes that include being supreme (Hlaa-Hlaa-Macbolo), invincible (gaOitsiwe), the source (motlbodi), the Enabler (montsbi), Mother (mme), and the Light (lesedi). Modimo lives in the sky. Modimo wills good to humankind, and Modimo preserves justice. Modimo normally acts through Badimo (ancestors). Last, but not least, Modimo may intervene directly to draw attention to the breach of taboos.

Something of chief interest about Modimo is that, like most African deities, it is neuter in gender. It is an attribute that seeks to empower both men and women together in societal functions, duties, and privileges. Thus, the representation of Modimo in Setswana spiritual space by the indigenous divining set (ditaola) illustrates that domination of one gender, male or female, was not characteristic. This attribute should be emulated in all religions because it does not marginalize [Page 673]and oppress the other. However, it is an exaggeration to say that in Tswana society there is complete balance of gender roles and property ownership since ancient times to our postmodern era.

In Tswana society, the concepts of the divine, the nature of humanity, the end of life, the conquest of fear, and the quest for the attainment of harmony with nature and other humans were taught by respectable people in initiation schools called Bojale and Bogwera. These schools were significant in the sense that they prepared boys and girls, respectively, for their specific roles in adult life. Precisely speaking, the initiation schools were preparatory, nonclass, and also used as critical avenues in search of Modimo. However, this does not mean to overlook the issue of gender imbalances that existed in the Tswana society. For example, boys at all levels were prepared to become leaders, a right that was strictly denied to women and girl children. Finally, when Christianity landed, the schools were made extinct, Modimo was colonized, gender imbalances were perpetuated, but some traditional ways of worship persisted. This includes the use of water for healing rituals, use of drums for music, and invoking spirit possession as well as divining.